Catch of the Day

unknown Bird of Prey with a small fish it has scooped up from Eungella Dam.

I got several decent shots from this flyby, but like this one the best.

Having a trawl through my books, this would appear to be a Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus).

View all photos taken: Monday, 7th July 2008, This photo: 2:45pm

Previous Photo: Brown Honeyeater

Comments

  • chefglen said:
    Very very cool capture!
  • petepothole said:
    Thats bloody awesome David!
    Looks like a type of Kite! Might be able to google it!
  • Xenedis said:
    Why do I sense a 400mm lens being on your wish list? :-)
  • [ Kane ] said:
    Haha, top shop mate, welcome back.
  • Yorri¢k said:
    thats great david, makes me want to get back out there looking again.
    congrats
    --
    [discovered in the Wollongong Pictorial Mafia photophlow room] (?)
  • David de Groot said:
    Thanks - I like how you can see the fish in it's claws (and beak, since it's already taken a bite).
    Yeah I reckon a kite of some sort sounds right. Difficult to ID birds of prey though, as it comes down to particular feather colourings in some instances.
    I wouldn't complain... You could make it a birthday present ;-)
    Thanks Kane, 'tis a wee cropped, but then you'd need something somewhat longer than 280mm to get a shot like this uncropped.
    Thanks Richard. Since getting the tele, I've been somewhat inspired to shoot our feathered friends (little point trying with a 100mm macro, 50mm or 10-20mm).
  • -Gadabout- said:
    sehr, sehr gut :D
  • David de Groot said:
    Danke. :)
  • Ror said:
    I think I've found a new desktop.
    Loving your current set of posts David. So glad you're sharing and I hope you never stop. :)
  • -Gadabout- said:
    Have to agree with you on Whistling Kite :)
  • David de Groot said:
    'twas a good trip, photographically. :)
    Both my books seem to confirm that, so I'm happy with that ID :) (picked up Pizzey & Knight's The Field Guide to Birds of Australia, today)
  • -Gadabout- said:
    it's a good book hey?
  • David de Groot said:
    I take it that's the one you have ? It was a toss-up between that one and the Moorecombe one, but I liked the layout of this one better.
  • -Gadabout- said:
    is indeed...the only thing I would change is that I would include pictures of their wings in flight as seen from above :D Because you might be high up in a tree or on a hill (or in your case on a ladder !) when you decide to take a shot of bird flying beneath you :)
  • David de Groot said:
    Well it does have pictures of the birds upper wings at rest, so a bit of extrapolation and you can work out what they'd be like flying.
  • -Gadabout- said:
    He he. I just looked at it and it does have pics (sometimes) of wings as seen from above in flight !!! Bad me.
    I shall aspire to visually extrapolating the images but in the meantime I'll let my folder of unknown birdies grow...right now, they're in the too-hard basket!
  • David de Groot said:
    Well obviously you should post them on flickr and we'll all get in to the act and see if an ID can be found for them... :)
  • -Gadabout- said:
    lol, nah they're really not that good, which is probably why I'm finding it hard to id them - there's one in particular I'm thinking of where the bird was in long grass (and very good at hiding in amongst it) and all I ever saw was a beautiful shade of blue. I'll need to go back to that place and see if I can get a better view...tho there are a lot of ant hills in that area so sitting down isn't really an option and I don't know if keeping still for a long time is a good option either!!!
  • David de Groot said:
    Ah fair enough then.
  • chooks! said:
    Awesome David! you were in the right place at the right time.
  • David de Groot said:
    Thanks :) Sure was.